Travis Scott’s casting in Rolling Loud: The Movie sparks online backlash
Critics have decided that the rapper, whose 2021 Astroworld Festival led to the deaths of ten attendees, should not be starring in a movie about a music festival.
Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for Live Nation
When the teaser for Rolling Loud: The Movie dropped yesterday, I assumed that most of the discussion would have revolved around the filmmakers casting divisive, comedian/looksmaxxer Matt Rife alongside veritable A-lister Owen Wilson. Instead, more of the online ire was sent toward rapper Travis Scott, whose Astroworld Festival led to ten fatalities at the hands of a crowd crush. Commenters have expressed their disappointment in Scott’s casting in the Live Nation-funded film, which stars Wilson as a bumbling father who, in an effort to impress his teenage son by sneaking him into Rolling Loud and promptly losing him.
In November 2021, Scott held the third and final iteration of his Astroworld Festival. As he came onstage at the end of night one, the crowd pushed in toward him, asphyxiating and crushing individuals unable to escape. Ten attendees died, 25 others were hospitalized, and over 300 reported injuries from the event, which prompted outrage against Scott and his team. Now, attention is being brought back to the tragedy as Scott prepares to star in the new, festival-oriented movie. Critics have questioned the ethics of casting him in such a prominent role (he plays himself, the Rolling Loud headliner), calling the decision tone-deaf and speculating that Scott’s appearance may be an effort to bury the tragedy under a new wave of headlines.
Scott has yet to address the controversy. His role in the film appears to be as a confidante to Wilson in the latter’s efforts to find his son; at one point in the trailer, he tells a bedraggled Wilson, “The lengths that you go to to find your kid, it’s like some superhero, super-father shit.” Wilson’s character replies, “Appreciate you saying that, Travis Scott.” The film, which also features appearances from Henry Winkler, Sexyy Red, Ty Dolla $ign, and Ski Mask the Slump God, is set to debut in theaters on October 2. Watch the Rolling Loud: The Movie trailer below.
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